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Officer training

Officers of the Nederland Navy are trained at the Koninklijk Instituut voor de Marine ("Royal Naval Institute"), which is part of the Nederlandse Defensie Academie ("Netherlands defence academy") in Den Helder.[2]
Around 100-150 people start training every year.

Ship prefixes

An international prefix for ships of the Royal Netherlands Navy is HNLMS (His/Her Netherlands Majesty's Ship).[3] The Netherlands navy itself uses the prefixes Zr.Ms. (Zijner Majesteits, His Majesty's) when a king is on the throne, and Hr.Ms. (Harer Majesteits, Her Majesty's) when there is a queen. This happens automatically at the moment of coronation. [4]

History

The modern Netherlands Navy dates its founding to a "statute of admiralty" issued by Holy Roman EmperorMaximilian I on January 8, 1488.[5] Naval historians trace the origins of an independent Dutch navy to the early stages of the Eighty Years' War (1568-1648) while the formation of a "national" navy is dated to the establishment of the Dutch Republic in 1597.[6]

Netherlands Golden Age

The Netherlands navy was involved in several wars against other European powers from the late 16th century, initially for independence against Spain in European waters, later for shipping lanes, trade and colonies in many parts of the world, notably in four Anglo-Dutch wars against England. During the 17th century the Dutch navy was one of the most powerful navies in the world. As an organization, the navy of the Dutch Republic consisted of five separate admiralties (three of them in Holland, and one each in Friesland and Zeeland), each with its own ships, personnel, shipyards, command structures and revenues.[7]

During the relentless Japanese offensive of February through April 1942 in the Dutch East Indies, the Dutch navy in Asia was virtually annihilated, and it sustained losses of a total of 20 ships (including two of its three light cruisers) and 2,500 sailors killed.[8] The Dutch navy had suffered from years of underfunding and came ill-prepared to face an enemy with more and heavier ships with better weapons, including the Long Lance-torpedo, with which the cruiser Haguro sank the light cruiser HNLMS De Ruyter.[9]

A small force of submarines based in Western Australian sank more Japanese ships in the first weeks after Japan joined the war than the entire British and American navies together during the same period, an exploit which earned Admiral Helfrich the nickname "Ship-a-day Helfrich".[10] The aggressive pace of operations against the Japanese was a contributing factor to both the heavy losses sustained and the greater number of successes scored as compared to the British and Americans in the region.

Both British and American forces believed that the Dutch admiral in charge of the joint-Allied force was being far too aggressive. Later in the war, a few Dutch submarines scored some remarkable hits, including one on a KriegsmarineU-boatU-95 in the Mediterranean Sea, which was sunk by O 21.

Netherlands New Guinea

After the war, the relations between the Netherlands and its colonies changed dramatically. The establishment of the Republic of Indonesia, two days after the Japanese surrender, thwarted the Dutch plans for restoring colonial authority. After four years of war the Netherlands acknowledged the independence of Indonesia.

As a member of NATO, the Netherlands developed its security policy in close cooperation with other members. The establishment of the Warsaw pact in 1955 intensified the arms race between West and East. Technical innovations rapidly emerged, the introduction of radar and sonar were followed by nuclear weapon systems and long-range missiles. The geopolitical situation allowed for a fixed military strategy. Beginning in 1965, the Dutch Navy joined certain permanent NATO squadrons like the Standing Naval Force Atlantic.

* The Royal Netherlands Navy classifies the De Zeven Provinciën-class as frigates, but internationally they are most comparable to destroyers (due to their size and weapon capability) platform for Sea Based Anti-Ballistic Missile defence

8 initially built for the Dutch navy, pairs of ships subsequently sold to the Belgian Navy, Portuguese Navy and Chilean Navy. Belgian and Dutch M-Class frigates recently received extensive upgrades such as an extended helicopter deck and new advanced sensors and improvements in stealthiness. Will be replaced in 2025

The total tonnage will be approx. 140,000 tonnes. Next to these ships a lot of other smaller vessels remain in the navy.

With these changes the Royal Netherlands Navy will have 10 large oceangoing vessels ranging from medium/low to high combat action ships. The renewed Dutch Navy will be a green-water navy, having enough frigates and auxiliaries to operate far out at sea, while depending on land-based air support, and, with the large amphibious squadron, they will have significant brown-water navy capabilities.

Future changes

Women are expected to join submarine crews in the Royal Netherlands Navy in 2019, with the addition of shower doors and changing room curtains.[21]

In April 2018, the Dutch Government approved a multi-year investment program and allocated funds for the 2018-2030 period, including;

Increasing the size of the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps to remain highly integrated with the British Royal Marines. In 2017 the Ministry of Defence announced the formation of a Fleet Marine Squadron for the protection of merchant ships.

Cooperation with the German Navy regarding Submarine & Amphibious Operations.

Acquisition of a new Combat Support Ship to replace the former Zr.Ms. Amsterdam, designed & build by Damen Shipyards.[25] This ship will be based on the JSS Karel Doorman design to improve type commonality (architecture & components) and is expected to be operational in 2022.[26] The ship will be named Zr.Ms. Den Helder after the city of Den Helder, with the pennant A834.

Acquisition of new LCU's in 2025 with additional capacity to support amphibious operations and the integration of the German Navy Marines (Seebatallion).

Theater ballistic missile defense

Together with the United States and several other NATO members, the Dutch Navy is testing and updating its ships for Tactical ballistic missile defense capability. Although tests conducted concerning the capability of the APAR (Active Phased Array Radar) have been very successful, in 2018 the Dutch Government decided to acquire the SM-3 missiles for integration into the existing weapon suite of the LCF frigates. Four ships will be fitted out for tactical ballistic missile defense. The four LCFs will be fitted out with only eight SM-3 missiles each, due to the high costs for each missile (approximately $2.5-$5 million).

^Klemen, L (1999-2000). "The War at Sea". Forgotten Campaign: The Dutch East Indies Campaign, 1941-1942. Archived from the original on 2012-03-05. Retrieved .Cite uses deprecated parameter |dead-url= (help)